Moscow not going to give up its offensive in Donetsk region to stop Ukrainian forces in Kursk region - ISW

It is more important for Russian forces and Russia's leadership to continue the offensive on the Pokrovsk axis in the Donetsk region than to stop Ukraine's incursion into the Kursk region.

That is according to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) think tank, Ukrinform reports.

"ISW continues to assess that Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Russian military will likely continue prioritizing Russian offensive operations in eastern Ukraine – namely in the Pokrovsk and Toretsk directions," the report said.

The Russian military command recently redeployed elements of at least one Russian airborne (VDV) regiment from western Zaporizhzhia region in response to Ukraine's incursion into Kursk region, possibly in an effort to stabilize the lines and improve command and control over Russian conscripts.

"These are not considered priority areas of front for the Russian military. We haven't seen redeployments from Pokrovsk because Russia is going to continue pushing forward to meet as many territorial objectives as it can in the Donetsk region and is not going to deprioritize that effort for the sake of repelling quickly the Ukrainian incursion into Kursk," said Karolina Hird of the Institute for the Study of War.